


Oasis

by devilinthedetails



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Bazhir, Gen, Nature, Oasis, Peace, Responsibility, mentoring, spirituality
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 05:15:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16717189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/devilinthedetails/pseuds/devilinthedetails
Summary: Jon finds peace at an oasis with Ali.





	Oasis

**Author's Note:**

> Set during Woman Who Rides Like a Man.

Oasis 

After another argument with Alanna that had left Jon’s throat rough and scratchy, Ali had taken one glance at Jon as he entered Ali’s tent and announced, “We are going to the oasis. There you will leave all your turmoil behind and find peace.” 

A short ride to the oasis—the lone source of water for leagues—Jon saw that they were not the only ones who had decided to come to the oasis. Children giggled and shouted as they waded in the water. Women’s veils blew about their faces like pennants as they knelt to fill buckets. Men called to their sheep and goats as they herded their animals to the banks of the oasis to drink. 

“Close your eyes,” ordered Ali when he and Jon reached an as yet unclaimed edge of the oasis. 

Not sorry for a reason to block out the blinding rays of sun reflected off the burning yellow sands, Jon obeyed. Shutting his eyes made him more attuned to the sounds all around him as if the absence of one relied upon sense strengthened others. 

As though he could read Jon’s mind like a scroll spread before him, Ali went on in a voice raspy as dust, “What do you hear?” 

Jon allowed the sounds around him to ripple over his ears like lapping water before answering quietly, “Women gossiping as they fill buckets. The bleating of sheep and goats. The shouting of men as they herd their livestock to the oasis. The squealing of children splashing each other with water.” 

Jon had seen all these things before he had closed his eyes but he hadn’t truly heard them until now. 

“You hear life.” Jon could hear Ali’s nod of approval even if he couldn’t see it. “That’s because the oasis is the center of Bazhir life since it sustains our lives. Stretch out your fingers and feel it.” 

Jon did as he was told, the water trickling almost teasingly between his outstretched fingers. 

“The Bazhir and all our animals would die within days without water,” Ali continued, and Jon could feel the power streaming around his submerged palm. “Water is a life-giving force but also a cleansing one that washes away our sweat and filth after a day’s toil beneath the blazing sun. It is the promise of purity and the hope that all who thirst will thirst no more.” 

“The oasis sounds very spiritual.” Jon could almost believe that it was when he remembered how relieved he had been to discover one after escaping the Black City with Alanna. 

“It’s not spiritual—merely physical—but the physical is meant to guide our understanding of the spiritual.” Ali squeezed Jon’s shoulder, his touch somehow brimming with life on the brink of death. “The oasis satisfies the physical thirst of the Bazhir, but it is the Voice must do so for the spiritual thirst of the Bazhir. The Voice must be a spiritual oasis for his people. The cries of their souls must resonate in him. He must sustain their spirits as the water does their lives.” 

“That’s a heavy responsibility.” Jon could feel it settling around his shoulders, a hundred times heavier than Ali’s hand. 

“Yes.” Ali never lied about the burdens of being a Voice but he never sounded crushed beneath them, and that never failed to fill Jon with faith whenever his started to flag. “That’s why you must go to the oasis to remind yourself of what life is and what sustains it when your soul needs peace.” 

“It is peaceful to sit here with my eyes shut and water rippling around my fingers while life unfolds all around me.” Jon was surprised by how serene he felt in this moment that he knew couldn’t last forever, his obligation to the Bazhir no longer daunting but comforting as he was swallowed by the sound of Bazhir life around the oasis. 

He was more Bazhir in his soul now than he had been during the blood rite that transformed him into one of them, he thought and wondered if they would ever believe that enough to accept him as their spiritual leader, their oasis in the desert, much as he wondered if he would ever be as capable of being that to them as Ali was. The future that shifted like sand dunes in the wind would have answers to these questions, but for now he would find peace by separating them from himself. He would transcend his doubts so he could become the leader the Bazhir and the northerners needed him to be to unite them.


End file.
